Most Ferocious Dinosaurs That Terrorized The Earth

Talk about the most ferocious dinosaurs that ever roamed the earth and the first that comes to mind is Tyrannosaurus Rex. T-Rex, as it is popularly called, was undoubtedly the apex predator when it came to dinosaurs. However, there were many other dinosaurs which were extremely fierce if not equally fierce. Nonetheless, they were deadly predators. Here is a list of 7 such most ferocious dinosaurs that terrorized the earth during their days.

1) Tyrannosaurus Rex

Let us begin with the apex predator. The popularly known T-Rex was just one of the reptiles that belonged to the Tyrannosaur family. Yes!! There were other dinosaurs such as Alioramus and Albertosaurus that belonged to the same family. Though it is unclear if the T-Rex was fiercer than its brothers (and sisters), it was undoubtedly a fully functional killing machine. Known to have lived in the late Cretaceous period (75-60 million years ago), it grew up to 40 feet in length and would weigh up to 7 tons. Its staple food included other dinosaurs. However, recently the ability of the predator to hunt and run at great speeds has been called into question. Whether the most ferocious dinosaur’s anatomy really gave it the capability of hunting or whether it was limited to scavenging needs to be answered.

2) Raptors

This is another dinosaur which terrorized earth by its sheer hunting skill. Though smaller in size, these dinosaurs were highly skilled hunters. Just like the Tyrannosaurus, there are many members of the raptor family, the most popular being the velociraptor. However, unlike what was portrayed in the movie Jurassic Park, velociraptor (it was in fact Deinonychus) wasn’t the most ferocious of the raptors. It was the Utahraptor. The deadliest tool a raptor had was the huge single curved claw on its hind legs. These claws could easily slash through flesh as if a knife cutting a cake. It is likely that the Utahraptor used ambush to attack its prey, inflicting deep wounds and withdraw so that prey bled to death. And yes, as Jurassic Park portrays, the Deinonychus must have been a very smart and agile member of the raptor family which hunted in well-coordinated packs.

3) Troodon

Not many people have heard about the Troodon. If you thought that the BIG boys were the best hunters just because of their size and scary looks, think again. The Troodon weighed a mere 150 pounds and grew up to 2.5 meters in length. It also did not have the scary-looking teeth similar to the T-Rex. But a bigger brain can easily beat a bigger body. The dinosaur lived in the late Cretaceous period. It was an extremely skilled pack hunter that hunted at night. It is also considered unusually “brainy” for a dinosaur. It is known to have shown an intelligence level similar to small mammals of that period. Some conspiracy theorists believe that Troodon was one of the dinosaurs that survived extinction due to its intelligence and evolved through millions of years into what are called today as the “reptilian” race.

4) Allosaurus

The allosaurus lived in the late Jurassic period (approx. 150 million years). They grew almost 40 feet long and weighed up to 3 tons. The allosaurus was known to have a massive head with sharp teeth and bony ridges over the eyes. This was one of the most common predators that lived in the late Jurassic period. Some palaeontologists suggest that it was a deadlier predator than the T-Rex. Of course, no one can know since both lived in different eras. Though its common diet was other dinosaurs, it is unlikely that it attacked the most famous plant eater that shared space with the allosaurus i.e. the stegosaurus for obvious reasons. It would be very difficult to predict a winner in such an encounter.

5) Giganotosaurus

As per its name (although often misspelled as gigantosaurus), the Giganotosaurus was one of the largest predators that walked the earth. It lived approximately 110 – 90 million years ago. It grew up to 40 feet in length and could weigh almost 8 tons. This South American predator slightly outweighed the T-Rex, but was definitely smaller than the largest carnivorous dinosaur, the spinosaurus. It also seems to have a more formidable arsenal including bigger arms with 3-clawed fingers on each hand. Though it is understandable that a large predator needs a large prey, it is quite intriguing from available fossil evidences that it may have fed on large dinosaurs such as Argentinosaurus

6) Sarcosuchus

You may have heard of the “super croc” or the 40-foot crocodile that pretty much feasted on other dinosaurs. Sacocuchus is its name. The super croc lived approximately 112 million years ago. It also happens to be a distinct relative of the modern day crocodile. The sarcosuchus was very much identical to its modern day relatives in looks as well as behaviour. But of course, it was gigantic, about the length of a city bus. The 10 ton super croc pretty much feasted on other dinosaurs and fish. The diet sometimes also involved dinosaurs as big as titanosaurs and tyrannosaurus. Though this was a super croc, it had a very close competitor called the Deinosuchus (not the raptor Deinonychus) which grew up to 30 feet and weighed close to 10 tons (while sarcosuchus weighed 10-15 tons).

7) Spinosaurus

The award for the largest carnivorous dinosaur goes to the spinosaurus. It lived in the middle cretaceous period between 112 and 97 million years ago. A fully grown spinosaurus is known to have grown anywhere between 41 and 59 feet and weighed 7 to 20.9 tonnes in weight. The skull of the dinosaur was long and narrow like a modern day crocodile. Fossil evidence suggests that the dinosaur lived both on land and in water. The dinosaur is thought to have fed on big fish, though it is unclear whether the dinosaur was primarily a terrestrial predator or a piscivore (a carnivorous animal whose primary food is fish).

Just imagine, where would we humans be if even one of these most ferocious dinosaurs lived today?

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Karthik Kashyap 4 years agofrom India

Anonymous: Thanks a lot for the input :)

anonymous 4 years ago

Spinosaurus would be the most awesome and powerful Dinosaur on land. Its bigger and heavier than Tyrannosaurus and it has bigger and stronger arms. With its fin on its back Spinosaurus was the closest thing to Godzilla. Spinosaurus was from the middle Cretaceous period while Tyrannosaurus was from the late Cretaceous period so these two were separated by a big difference in time and they would never have met. Velociraptor was a small theropod Dinosaur but still a dangerous one with massive claws on its legs and on its arms and with formidable biting jaws. Its also said to be intelligent. Land Mammals, Hominids, and modern humans would not have evolved during the same time as these Dinosaurs.

Author

Karthik Kashyap 4 years agofrom India

Thanks for pointing that out Tristan. While Sarcosuchus cannot be considered a dinosaur in the truest sense, it did roam around during the age of the dinosaurs and pretty much lived on dinosaurs as much as other fish. It was aptly named as the dino croc.